One of the horror genre's "most widely read critics" (Rue Morgue # 68), "an accomplished film journalist" (Comic Buyer's Guide #1535), and the award-winning author of Horror Films of the 1980s (2007), The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia (2007) and Horror Films of the 1970s (2002), John Kenneth Muir, presents his blog on film, television and nostalgia, named one of the Top 100 Film Studies Blog on the Net.

Friday, September 16, 2016

Breakaway Day 2016: "The Metamorph"

'In
“The Metamorph,” Moonbase Alpha emerges from its second encounter with a space
warp, six light years from its previous position. The lunar facility’s life
support system needs repair, and requires the ore known as Titanium.

Titanium
is pinpointed on the volcanic surface of a nearby planet, but an Eagle
reconnaissance flight ends in terror when the ship is abducted by a strange
green light. Soon, Alpha is contacted by
an alien from the planet, Mentor (Brian Blessed), who claims that the pilots
are safe in his custody.

Mentor
and Commander Koenig (Martin Landau) arrange an orbital rendezvous, but the
plan is further treachery from Mentor.
He captures Koenig’s eagle and drags it down to the planet, called
Psychon.

There,
in a subterranean city, Mentor lives with his daughter, Maya (Catherine Schell)
whom he has taught the “priceless art of
molecular transformation,” and operates a biological computer called Psyche
which he hopes to use to restore the planet surface to its former tranquil
self.

To
do so, however, he must feed Psyche living minds.

The
Alphans provide him a ready supply, though Koenig refuses to cooperate. Koenig
hopes to convince Maya -- who doesn’t know of Psyche’s brain draining power --
that he needs her help. But to do so,
she must turn on her own father.

The
first episode of Space: 1999 Year Two is colorful and bold, crisp and exciting.
It also introduces a great regular character to the series: Maya of Psychon,
played by Catherine Schell.

I won’t mince words
about Maya or her presence on the series.
I love her.

I believe Maya is a
great character, in part because she is allowed to be emotional as well as
competent and brilliant. After Mr. Spock,
all resident aliens had to be stoic, it seems, but not Maya. She was more like an imp, a good-humored, playful,
highly emotional alien.

Like all her people, Maya is incredibly
intelligent, with a mind that can run circles around the most high-powered
computer. As a Psychon, she is, we are told in "Seed of Destruction,"
"hyper sensitive to all forms of living matter." Maya is also
a pacifist, deploring the violence of the planet Earth when told of it in
"Rules of Luton.”

"You mean, people killed people, just
because they were different. That's disgusting!"

But Maya is also one tough cookie. She regularly
transforms into frightening outer space creatures to stop the monster of the
week in episodes such as "The Beta Cloud" and "The Bringers of
Wonder." She stands up to the Commander when she believes he is wrong
("Seed of Destruction" again), and is just as comfortable flying an
Eagle or running the science station in Command Center as she is in a party
dress (“One Moment of Humanity.”)

In just one season on Space: 1999, Maya did
things that the other females in cult-TV history have regularly been denied the
opportunity to do. She piloted
spaceships, engaged in fisticuffs, provided the analytical answer to the
scientific challenge of the day, and also served as the mouth-piece for the “social
gadfly” commentary about the human race.

To many, she became a role model.

Consider, by 1991 and Star Trek: The Next Generation’s
fourth season (and episodes such as “Q-Pid”) – and long after 1999 was
canceled -- women characters were still locked in caretaker roles (Dr. Crusher
and Counselor Troi), and still knocking enemies out by smashing crockery over
their heads. Unlike Maya, they rarely piloted space craft, or engaged the enemy
in hand-to-hand combat. Data got the
science talk, and Data and Worf were the outsider commenters, leaving Troi to “sense”
danger, and Crusher to mend broken bones.

"I never thought of Maya as a role model," Ms.
Schell told me during our 1994 interview, "perhaps because in my life I have never been held back from doing
something just because I am a woman. I'm thrilled that she is seen by many as I
role model, but I didn't intend it that way. Perhaps because Maya was an alien,
she was allowed to do more than 'human' women were at the time."

Whatever
the reasons for Maya’s full integration into the action, I remain grateful for
it. I miss Barry Morse’s Victor and Prentis Hancock’s Paul Morrow in Space:1999
Year Two, but Maya’s presence adds so much to the season.

And
as all fans of the series realize, there are some big differences visually,
character-wise, and conceptually between Year One and Year Two. Year One is awe-inspiring, scary and often
wondrous. By comparison, Year Two tends
to be colorful, and action-packed, with more humor. Year One is lugubrious and
ponderous, in a remarkable way. Year Two
is fast-paced and giddy.

I
know fans divide on the issue of “which year is better.” I prefer Year One, but I also enjoy Year Two,
and feel that Maya, in particular, is a great addition to the series, in large
part because of Catherine Schell’s portrayal.

And
of all the Year Two style episodes - big on action, movement, and color – “The
Metamorph” may just be the best. It is
big, brash, exciting, and pacey…all good qualities for a season premiere, no
doubt.

Writer
Johnny Byrne once told me, in an interview, how the change in formats occurred:

“During
the interregnum between seasons, I wrote for Gerry Anderson. I kept busy, but people involved with the
production of Space: 1999 were very twitchy.
Everybody knew that the new producer, Freddie [Frieberger], was
coming. He sent over a tape of comments
about the series, and after hearing his remarks, I understood a second season
would be a whole new ball game. I had
been told I would be the story editor for the second year, but it was just a
verbal agreement, and I understood it was no longer going to happen. I would
continue to write episodes, but it was a very different situation.”

The
shift in formats boils down to, at least in creative terms, the fact the
Alphans become much more aggressive and in control over their destiny in Year
Two. This shift is apparent in “The
Metamorph” from the fact that the base now has laser cannons positioned around
its lunar perimeter, the equivalent of phaser banks.

Similarly,
the Alphans have developed “Directive 4,” a coded order which means that a
dangerous planet (in this case, Psychon) is to be destroyed. In Year One, Alpha did possess nuclear charges
and space mines (which it utilized in stories such as “Space Brain” and “Collision
Course”) but the Alphans did not have the potential for Death Star-level
destruction.

What
does this shift mean, in terms of storytelling?

Well,
in Year Two the Alphans operate not from a place of not-knowing about outer space,
but from a position of being able to defend themselves, and hold their own
against all comers. One can argue for
the dramatic validity of such a change, and indeed, in some senses it is
logical. The Alphans would be more prepared
and defensive over time, given the nature of their odyssey. But by the same token, these changes are not
explained in “The Metamorph,” or phased in “in universe. Year Two begins, and everything just seems
different.

That
jarring change may actually be the reason so many fans have difficulty with
Year Two as opposed to Year One. It’s not that the changes are wrong-headed, so
much, as they are aren’t accounted for gradually, or in terms of the characters’
actual experiences or history.

“It
comes down to this,” Byrne told me. “The things that people to do prevent
disaster are invariably what lead them to disaster. That’s the essence of Greek tragedy. We’ve all heard that man proposes and God
disposes. That’s the theme of many Year
One stories. That was lost to some extent in Year Two, although I know we both
think it was also a valuable season.”

Byrne
also pinpointed for me another concern, one much more having to do with a
production crunch than any shift in concept.
“The problem was that in Year Two our scripts were no longer consecutive,
feeding into each other naturally, one after the next. Instead, there was broad
commissioning of about twenty at once, and I think that led to a feeling of
reduced momentum. But without Freddie,
there would not have been an additional season of Space: 1999. I think I need to be clear about that. It was valuable to have those twenty-four
additional shows, even if I would have preferred a different direction.”

I
agree with Byrne completely on this subject.
I am grateful to have Space:1999 Year Two and feel that
many episodes, especially those at the start (“The Metamorph,” “The Exiles,” “Journey
to Where”) and at the finish (“The Séance
Spectre,” “The Immunity Syndrome,” and “The Dorcons”) were good shows.

“The
Metamorph” remains tops in the revised format, though, and I remember watching
it with Johnny at the Main Mission Convention in New York in 2000. We saw there, much in terms of both virtue and potential.

“I wrote the premiere episode, “The
Metamorph,” and it introduced the character of Maya, the shape-shifter played
by Catherine Schell,” he told me in our interview. “She wasn’t in my original script, which was
called “The Biological Soul” and then “The Biological Computer.” But I saw the episode just recently in New York, and it looked
absolutely wonderful. It was fast-paced,
smart, interesting and I liked what was left of my main character, Mentor…that idea of
flawed genius.

Byrne
tallied up so many good points there. Indeed “The Metamorph” moves with such
confidence and purpose, that watching it, one feels like the series revamp could
have been a remarkable thing. The same
atmosphere carries over to “The Exiles,” in my opinion. After that, however, the feeling of quality
starts to slip, and the production rush takes over, producing some slipshod
episodes. It’s not that the writing in
particular gets worse in Year Two, it’s that there’s the feeling that corners
are being cut, and the series creator are constantly battling not to fall behind,
instead of battling to produce great new stories in this format, of which “The
Metamorph” is absolutely one.

What makes it so good?

For one thing, the Alphans reach out in "The Metamorph."

Despite the fact that they have been betrayed and disappointed by aliens in the past, Koenig reaches to Maya, and makes a friend in the process.

And Maya, to her credit, realizes in "The Metamorph" that there are some virtues greater, even, than family. When she discovers the truth of Mentor's sadism and evil, she doesn't rally loyally (and mindlessly) to her father. Instead, she attempts to redress a wrong he has committed. It's not an easy choice for her, yet Maya does what is right, not what is easy. This makes her a hero.

The episode's closing scene in the Eagle, with Koenig telling Maya that "we are all aliens, until we get to know each other," is an indicator that the Alphans are still human, still willing to extend a hand of friendship. Koenig and Helena want to help Maya, despite the fact that Mentor has been their enemy. They don't let her former allegiance color their perception of her, and on the contrary, realize how much she has given up for them.

The episode also works in terms of Koenig's character, showcasing the isolation of his position. He is forced to make a terrible choice in "The Metamorph:" give up his people on Psychon, or watch Alpha be obliterated.

He attempts to turn the tables on Mentor, but for a time, his people, including Carter (Nick Tate) believe he is a coward. He silently carries that shame, rather than expose his plan to stop Mentor.

"The Metamorph" is also very exciting, from the sequence with Koenig's eagle experiencing terrible G-forces in flight, to the final confrontation in which Maya goes crazy, transforming from animal to another animal in a desperate bid to save her father from a fire.

Most importantly, "The Metamorph" sets the stage for Maya's place on Alpha. She begins the episode asking her father, Mentor, if she would make a good Alphan. She ends the story with Koenig and Helena re-assuring her that there's a place for her there.

Although fans will always have their preferences regarding Year One and Year Two, I would nonetheless declare that Maya and Catherine Schell helped to make Space:1999 Year Two exciting and memorable, "The Metamorph" is an example of a success story in Year Two, and a demonstration of the revised format's potential.

2 comments:

Mr. Muir, great comments on this excellent episode. Here's some points I glean from my enjoyment/pitfalls of the 2nd Year over the 1st year.

1) Most fans enjoyed the 1st year because it seemed purer to the original concept, giving it distance from Star Trek for it's own identity. Both years had bad or 'week' episodes; Sylvia was able to hide it more with more stylistic filming( nice angles, shadows.., etc) meandering/thoughtful/philosophical discussions and wonderful music to choose from. Year 2 didn't have these devices to use, so the weak episodes seemed weaker. And as the later Buck Rogers discovered as well, as soon as you change the format to emulate a previously-thought success story (Trek..), you quickly become pain-fully aware that you lose the original charm, and the end result is painfully, well, not Trek. But given the grassroots rise in Trek popularity in the '70s, who could resist.

2) Agreed on your wonderful points, I felt "The Metamorph" was an outstanding episode and made a superb case for Fred's changes.., but also agreed that the follow-on episodes lost a lot of creative energy to sustain what he started. 'Seeds of Destruction' and a few others were good, but generally the series started winding down to some cheap mundane euro-feel that made it hard to watch, especially with the non-subtle humor injected to make it more Trekish at the episode conclusions.

3) I enjoyed Catherine quite a bit, very nice touch as Maya with her sly humor at times but I never warmed to the Maya character as a whole. In my opinion, the shape-shifting was gradually reduced to a token/device (ie, 'Catacombs of the Moon') which I wasn't comfortable with, nor did I like the aspect of Alpha where a super-smart alien saves the day. It wore on the basic premise that, despite the 2nd year posture of being more prepared for alien encounters, that somehow human intuition and skills won the day.

4) Other than the Eagle effects, I felt that as the 2nd year progressed, the effects work gradually got less and less impressive. Both "The Lambda Factor" and "The Taybor" effects were fairly weak to me, even "The Dorcons" space fight effects were far weaker than most Year 1 effects sequences, but that's for another discussion.

All in all, I'm one of the pro-Fred supporters. He was a competent producer and should not be blamed for the shortcomings.., I put that more on pressure from the NY ATV office expecting more monsters, etc. Obviously Maya was Fred's idea and as you correctly said, without these changes to create a 'different' 1999, Sir Lew would not have given the go-ahead at all. So, I consider the 2nd Year enjoyable for certain aspects, such as great Eagle effects and more Tate, Landau and other fan favorites.

About John

award-winning author of 27 books including Horror Films FAQ (2013), Horror Films of the 1990s (2011), Horror Films of the 1980s (2007), TV Year (2007), The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia (2007), Mercy in Her Eyes: The Films of Mira Nair (2006),, Best in Show: The Films of Christopher Guest and Company (2004), The Unseen Force: The Films of Sam Raimi (2004), An Askew View: The Films of Kevin Smith (2002), The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film & Television (2004), Exploring Space:1999 (1997), An Analytical Guide to TV's Battlestar Galactica (1998), Terror Television (2001), Space:1999 - The Forsaken (2003) and Horror Films of the 1970s (2002).

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